The Enugu state APGA Governorship Candidate, Frank Nweke Jr., has described the outcome of the March 18th gubernatorial polls in Enugu as an assault o Democracy.
The Former three-time Minister stated this during a world press conference, at the Okeifufe Campaign Office, in Enugu.
The governorship candidate said that the election was far from fair and certainly, not transparent, citing multiple infringements during the election, and called for a total review of the entire process and outcome of the elections.
“The violence, thuggery, intimidation, use of divisive sentiments, and the weaponization of poverty against our people, which the Peoples Democratic Party deployed in the course of the campaign and the elections reflect the desperation of the Party to hold on to power against the will of the people. It was never about service or the good of ndi Enugu; and the impunity with which these wicked acts were carried out is sickening.”
“Just before midnight on Friday, March 17, 2023, another piece of propaganda was released and distributed aggressively to insinuate that I had stepped down for Peter Mbah, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party.
alleged, aided the PDP to rig the elections.
“The PDP also secured the assistance of the INEC agents to rig the election, offering cash or issuing threats as the situation demanded.
Only a few polling unit agents uploaded their results directly on IREV as provided by INEC, and fake result sheets were used to rewrite and manipulate the results of vote counts at the polling units before the falsified results of the elections were uploaded to the IREV. Some of these result sheets are also completely blurred on the portal.”
The collation centres at the local government headquarters were completely hijacked by thugs and compromised security operatives, and party agents other than the agents of the PDP were not allowed access to any stage of the collation process until Sunday morning. At 7:20 pm on election day, shots were fired sporadically at the Nkanu West collation centre in Agbani, while the military stood aside and watched. Similar breaches of the law and subversion of the electoral process occurred across many locations in the State.”
“At the start of this campaign, I said emphatically that no ambition is worth the life of any individual. My sentiments about this have not changed. It is unfortunate that those who seek to govern our state are comfortable with expending the lives of citizens as political collateral damage.”
The elections of March 18, 2023 in Enugu State were a complete sham. They were not fair. They were not free. And they were not credible.
“Yet, none of these actions came as a surprise. Weeks before the election, and consistently, we shared detailed intelligence reports of the impending disaster with the Independent National Electoral Commission and the security agencies. We consistently received assurances and chose to believe that our democracy would be protected in the face of the desperate plans for subterfuge.
It is unfortunate that resolute actions were not taken to avert the threats we reported. Again, we saw that the problem is not democracy itself. The problem is the people and institutions that we rely upon to manage our democracy.”
He further noted that the entire process, down to the declaration of its winner was a complete farce and lacks legitimacy.
The results of Nkanu East local government area which were contested, got reviewed and revised by the national office of INEC without any basis given for the change in numbers. If it was a case of over-voting, the expectation is that the result from the local government area should have been cancelled.”
“It does seem that the numbers were simply manufactured to fit a preprogrammed outcome and read out to the public, as can be inferred from the Returning Officer of INEC in the state, Prof Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe’s comments about acting under authority and reading out what he had been given.”
“I am utterly disappointed with the manner in which the Independent National Electoral Commission handled the 2023 elections. I am also saddened by the actions of some members of our security agencies. Both of these institutions of State let the people down when they became compromised by a few desperate power mongers and looters. The unchecked intimidation and violence, the massive rewriting of results and the overall abuse of the people’s will would have failed if not done in connivance with the electoral umpire and members of our security agencies.”
He urged citizens not to loose faith in the fight for freedom and democracy and promised to use all within hos means to get justice.
“We must not relent now. In fact, the journey has only just begun. We must keep engaging the system and these institutions. No matter how long it takes, we will take back our state.
There are far too many people suffering, impoverished and bereft of hope for us who know what should be done to be quiet. For the children in Iva Valley, Ugwu Peak, Bunker and other slums, we must keep going. For the woman in Awgu who came to sell her wares in the market holding her two weeks’ old baby, we must keep going. For our aged parents who are owed their pensions and gratuities and for our young graduates who see no hope of a future in their homes, we will keep going.”
We must not lose faith in our democracy or in Enugu State. As individuals and collectively, we must keep pursuing our rights to choose our leaders, to good governance, and to experience the dividends of democracy.
“I have no problem losing an election to the will of the people. But when this will has been subverted, we have no choice but to review the entire process and the outcome.
We will explore and exhaust every action required to ensure the legitimacy of the next government in Enugu State. You cannot hold accountable something that was acquired by illegitimate means.” He stated.
